Apparatus for cold welding of metal



May 26, 1953 A. B. sowTER 2,639,634

APllARATUS FOR COLD WELDING OF' METAL Filed April 12. 1949 ENT H NY Bqq Nou: 50h/TER Patented May 26, 1953 APPARATUS FOR-,COLD WELDING 0F METAL Anthony Bagnold Sowter, Wembley, England, assigner to The General 'Electric Company, Limited, London, England lApplication April 12, 1949, Serial No. 865929 n (Sweat Britain AfprL23, '1948 3' Claims. l1

This invention relates .to Vapparatus yfor cold pressure welding of metal such as aluminium, copper -or other ductile and non-errous metal or metal alloy, i.e. welding essentially by mechanical pressure without supply of any substantial amount of external heat.

.Recently the .useoi coldpressure welding, .particulariyof aluminium and Aaluminium alloys, has been .increasing in ,extent and several different methods and forms .of apparatus .have 4been proposed .torA etectillg welding. Thus, it has .been proposed to. weld the scampi an aluminiumsheath of an electric .cahle by a cold pressure Welding method.

In .the past, the vapparatus for effecting cold pressure welding has usually been .of what might be called ,the .static type. .For example, for seam welding of an .aluminium .cable sheath, apparatus including bending and .pressure rolls together with a driyngmotor ,is requiredv and, in thecase of .welding .twoiianged aluminiumor copper caps together, ,a .heavy press is used.

Now there vare .certanapplications .of cold pressure welding where, in odset, the welding apparatus must, be taken to the. job rather .than the job being taken to the .apparatus and one particular example of this is the case .of welding togetherthe.. aluminium .or copper strands .of two stranded high tension overhead cables which are tol `be connected together. Obviously, ina case like this, it is d iicult .to transport a .heavy press over the countryside ,say to perform--such a task on the ground and, where the welding vis to'be ctected in the length oi cable connecting two insulator strings on a pylon, the use of a heavy press is ruled out.

One object of ,the present invention, therefore, is the provision of a method of and apparatus for effecting cold pressure welding which are particularly applicable to cases of thenature outlined above.

According to one aspect of the present invention, in a method of welding together two metallic surfaces capable of being cold pressure welded, .the pressure required for efiecting cold pressure welding of the surfaces together is .obtained by the release of stored energy.

The present invention includes a method of welding together two metallic surfaces capable of being cold pressure welded wherein welding is edected by impact pressure.

According to another aspect of the present invention, apparatus for welding together two metallic sur-faces capable of being cold Apressune welded comprises energystoragemeans and-a 2 Weld-Trial .toolV or .tools Aassociated with .the said means .and ,arranged to. receive ,energy released from the. saidmeans-lto effect welding .of the said surfaces 'by impact pressure.

The apparatus ,may suitably include .a 4spring in which .kinetic energy isarranged to be stored, a pair .of -cooperating .toolsfbetweenwhich say a pair of flattened aluminium strands of an .overhead cable may-.heplaced,and tripping or .release means arranged to allow the` storedenergy to drive one tool towards .the other to effect welding.

VSuch...apparatuscan be made .portablein the true sense like .a hammer, `screw-.driver, etc., and a lever mounted. onthe apparatus may :be .used for stressingjthe spring. Preferably,` the spring compressed 4and isallowedto expand -to ,give the necessary in'ipaclt.v pressure.

A portable. impactpressure .welding .apparatus in .accordance with ltherpresent .invention and for `ioining togetherlengths of ,stranded aluminium overhead Icablefwillno-w be described. .by way of example with reference .to the accompanying drawing rin which Figure ..l- .shows a .side v ievr :of the apparatus partly-.sectioned fin .a plane ycontaining its axisand Figure. 2 Ashows 1a front view oi the apparatus.

Referring now to `the. drawing the. yemparatus comprises a hollow cylindrical -body hof -mild steel, circular in section, having one .end closed bvan end member. .i formed none with the `body l Yandthe other end .closed by acap El which screws onto' the. threadedupper end of the Aoutside of thecylindricalbcdy. l. 4Mounted within the codyY l v,is ,a mishroomshaped .hammer .d .of unhardened cast steel, thestem :5.0i the hammer t projecting from. ,the head vl5 towards .the screwed cap 3, and a heavy coiled .compression or storage spring 'l acts `between .the .cap 3 vand the rear surface .ofthe hammer head. .55, .the spring Tl being .of slightly .smaller vdiameter than the `r'core of the body l..

The vhammer 4. .isarranged rto .be moved in the here against 'theiorce of thespring 'l and is guided .in .this movement by .a...central rod 8 car ried h y .the screw cap 3 whichfslides in `a bore in the .hammer stem 5, Actually, .as will be ap.- preciated from ,description that follows, the hammer bore passes right through the stem 5 .and head 6. To movethe hammer 4, the stem 5 is provided towards 'its free end with tivo ,side studs (only one being visi-ble on Figure l) diametrically opposite one ranother, and these (so-operate with a pair of' parallelslottedlinks 'l0 which lie one 'ea-ch side 'of `the stemE-parallel to 'the body 3 and stem axes and pass through suitable apertures in the cap 3.

The links I IJ, at their ends outside the body bore, are pivoted to a solid arm II of mild steel pivoted at one 'end in an upstanding pillar i2 on the cap 3, the pivoted axis of the arm I I being perpendicular to the axis of the body I and spaced :away from the body axis. The, other end of the arm II is provided with a channel shaped member or lever I3 of mild steel sheet which runs towards the other end of the body I and, when in its normal position, is more or less parallel to the body axis. Movement of the lever I3 away from the body I rotates the arm II about its pivot, pulIls the pair of links III through the cap 3 and raises the hammer 4 against the force of the coiled compression spring 1.

In order to retain the hammer 4 in its raised position, a side latch I4 is provided on the body l and when the hammer 4 moves past the latch I 4, it moves in under the force of a spring I5 to retain the hammer 4 in its raised position by a portion IE engaging under the head 6. The latch I4 is provided with a finger release I1 and, once the hammer 4 is latched, the arm II and lever I3 may adopt their original positions, the side studs 9 on the hammer stem 5 passing along the slots I8 in the pair of links I0 and the inner ends of the links I8 finally riding over ats IS (only one being visible in Figure 1) on the hammer head 6.

The arm II mounted on the cap 3 is used for pre-flattening the strands of the cable and, for this purpose, the pillar I2 is provided with a dat sloping surface 28 which co-operates with a flat surface 2I formed on the underside of the arm II. A `strand would be placed between the surfaces 20 and 2| with the arm II raised slightly and then the lever I3 pressed towards the body I to flatten the strand to the required extent. The final gap between the surfaces 20 and 2! is controlled by an adjustable stop 22 mounted on the ilree end of the lever I3 and bearing against the side of the body I.

Mounted between the head 6 of the hammer 4 and solid closed end 2 of the body I is the head 23 of a mushroom shaped member 24, in effect, a striker or first welding tool, the stem 25 of which passes with a sliding t through an aperture in the solid closed end 2. The striker 24 is biased away from the hammer 4 or towards the cooperating welding tool 28 by a coiled compression spring 26 mounted in the bore of the hammer 4, referred to above, and, when the hammer 4 is raised, the striker 24 can be moved against this spring 26 by a pin 21 in the head 23 of the striker 24 which pin 21 passes, parallel to the striker stem 25, through another hole in the solid closed end 2 of the body I.

The striker 24 is also made of unhardened cast steel and the free end of its stem 25 is tapered and nishes in a flat rectangular end surface whose width is approximately the width of a flattened strand and whose length is that of the required weld length. 'I'he stem 25 of the striker 24 forms, in effect, a die or one welding Itool and the anvil or other welding tool 28 which co-operates with it is secured to an L-shaped projection 29 formed in one With the soilid closed end 2 of the body I. I'he long arm 30 of the L is parallel to the body axis and the short arm 3I perpendicular to the axis, the anvil 28, also of unhardened cast steel, being secured by a screw 32 to the long arm 30 and resting its end remote from the striker 24, with the interposition of a replaceable shim 33, against the short arm 30. The end surface o-f the anvil 28 is formed exactly the same as the end surface of the die or stem 25 and the two strands to be cold welded together are placed between the die and the anvil, one on the other. Movement of the striker 24 towards the anvil 28 is [limited by the striker or die head 23 engaging the inner face of the solid closed end 2 of the body I and the shim 33 associated with the anvil 28 controls the percentage reduction of thickness obtained during welding. If desired, the tools may be shouldered as described in my Patent No. 2,522,408, granted on application Serial No. 123,315, filed October 25, 1949, which was led as a continuation-inpart of my prior application Serial No. 86,930, led April 12, 1949, now abandoned.

In operation of the apparatus described above, when it is required to join together the separate strands of two cable lengths, each Ipair of strands is welded separately. To weld a pair together, the lever I3 is iirst operated to compress the main spring 1 and the hammer 4 is latched in its raised position. Then, each strand is iiattened in the device associated with the lever I3 and the striker 24 raised against its biasing spring 26 to allow the two flattened strands, after scratch-brushing, to be `placed one on the other and in line between the end surfaces of the die and anvil 25 and 28. The striker 24 is released so that the spring 26 maintains the strands correctly positioned and then the latch I4 is tripped to allow the main compression spring 1 to drive the hammer 4 down onto the striker 24 to effect the cold pressure weld of the two strands together. The inner face of the solid closed end 2 of the body I absorbs the residuafl imrpact after the correct percentage reduction has been obtained and, to remove the welded strands, the lever I3 is eased away from the body I.

The free end of the lever I3 and the L-shaped projection 29 on the solid closed end 2 of the body I are provided with transverse holes 34 and 35 respectively for tommy bars (not shown) to facilitate raising of the hammer 4.

Instead of compressing the spring manually as described above, it may be done hydraulically or pneumatically either from some external pressure supply or by hand operation.

For cofld pressure welding stri-ps of thin aluminium sheet together, spot welds using an automatic centre punch with a suitably shaped end co-operating with a flat anvil, may be used.

Instead of using energy stored in a spring for effecting welding, energy stored in a raised weight, in a compressed gas lor in an explosive charge may be used. Thus, a cartridge may be fired to produce the necessary impact pressure.

I claim:

1. A pressure welding tool comprising a support, an anvil fixedly mounted on said support, a die 1'01 cooperating with said anvil in effecting a weld between two metal parts, means mounting the die with relation to said support for movement to and from said anvil, a hammer mounted upon said support for movement 'to and from said die, energy storage and release means at the side of the hammer remote from the die for causing the hammer to impart an impacting welding pressure upon the die, means for moving the hammer away from the die and simultaneously storing energy in said energy storage and release means, and means independent of said energy storage and release means continuously effective to bias the die towards the anvil so that when parts to be welded are placed between the anvil and the die in proper welding position, the biasing of the 4die towards the anvil will hold the parts in said position.

2. A pressure welding tool as dened in claim 1 in which the hammer is slidably mounted on said support, the energy storage and release means is a coiled compression spring, and which includes means effective upon movement of the hammer a predetermined distance away from the die for releasably holding the hammer away from the die against the force of the energy stored in said spring.

3. A pressure welding tool as defined in claim 2 including means for limiting the extent of the movement of the die towards the anvil, whereby during a welding operation, the percentage of reduction of the parts under the impacting force of the hammer may be controlled.

ANTHONY BAGNOLD SOWTER.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,465,918 Redinger Aug. 21, 1923 2,364,420 Bloss Dec. 5, 1944 2,427,597 Garner Sept. 16, 1947 2,475,398 Montoya July 5, 1949 2,522,408 Sowter Sept. 12, 1950 

